Professors of Communication Vincent Russell, Grace Cheshire, and Gabriel Wisnewski-Parks will bring public deliberation to WCU through the new Deliberative Student Fellowship, offered through the Deliberative Citizenship Network (DCN).
The DCN is a new national initiative led by Davidson College, where a network of schools will work together to strengthen civil discourse and democratic engagement on their respective campuses. This fellowship is made possible by a grant from the DCN, which provided $10,000 to WCU’s Communication Department to implement deliberative projects and initiatives in the community, and to support problem-solving, community engagement, and collaboration among the student cohort. The DCN also provided workshops to professors across the network to prepare them to implement deliberation into their programs, which professors Cheshire and Winsewski-Parks attended.
The fellowship involves a discourse team of five WCU students and three faculty that will foster dialogue and deliberation on WCU’s campus and in local communities. This will be done through facilitating and planning group discussions, forums and other events, allowing students to learn how to thoughtfully and meaningfully lead and engage in complex issues in our community.
Students will prepare for leading their own deliberation event in the spring by leading lectures, completing readings, and engaging in discussions with their cohort.
In doing this, the fellowship will be assisting the DCN’s larger mission of creating opportunities for communities across the nation to engage with one another on contentious issues facing our society.
“I’m excited to join my Communication colleagues Dr. Grace Cheshire and Mr. Gabriel Wisnewski-Parks in the inaugural cohort of the Deliberative Citizenship Network,” Russell said, “The DCN will provide a unique opportunity for our student fellows to develop deliberation and facilitation skills, such as active listening, providing evidence to support claims, communicating across differences, and conflict management.”
This fellowship can best achieve its mission when the community engages with it. To stay tuned to events related to this fellowship, make sure to follow us @wcucommdepartment on Instagram. We would love to see you come out and support this exciting new opportunity for the Communication Department.